Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1887-06-27
ExcURsIor


ssfs-Ar. Jshn =. Chase u
Mr.. J. T. Chase Of this city. ha. inst -.
turned from Boston where he has beer :.
make arrangements for . grand excrr.;o.
rom the Kennebec valley to tho p...~-
Cyciorama of the Battle of Gettysburg ON ~.
24th anniversary Of that grea. battle. The
excnrsionists will leave Augusta a, 70 AZ
fhursday, June &c.. on steamer S,., 80 ~
East. Fare for the round trip, ioclud;co
admission to the cyclorama, Aueu.,. D.,
lowell, Gardiner. % 70; Richmond. ~ so .
tickets good for 10 days. As this /, the la,
season that the cyclorama will renal, 8.
boston. everyone should improve thi. on,o,-
tunisy to visit this wonderful work Of =,
Mr. Chase,who received his many wound. !,
that battle. and who has been lectu,,,. :.
the cgclorama at Brooklyn for the ma, a
months, will accompany the excur.;on ~
give the lecture. Writing to the King,
County Journal. Brooklyn, N. Y. read xb.,
40 ex Rebel thinks of the cyclor.m. and ",
Chase's lecture:
Yesterday we visited the Ge,tv.h,,c .r.,o
rama. If we had any thouoht of c,,,; o:..o-
the picture from a technical st.odn0;n. :
was forgotten when We saw il. ~
1t is work which disarms cri,;c;.m -.
art which conceals art 10 its hi1he., ns~eao
ton For the moment we think mn, 10 ~.
painter and his brushes, but look upon a M ge
OF our country's history, torn from IL. t.ls 81
battles and spread before US in character. ~
blood and fame. Vi
ny 'he magic OF the great artists pencil the
intervening years since that fatefuI Sd Of
July, 1868, fade from our sight and We .ra
looking upon the same golden harvest Of
wheat That crowned the hills and waved in The
valley al gettysburg when the shadow of
death fell upon them three and twenty wear.
ago.
The landscape wears the same irouic smile
with which nature looked upon the deadlv
struggle of fighting brothers on that memor.
able summer afternoon, and fancy listens for
the roll of drums and the roar of cannon. The
rattle of musketry and the clash of steel.
which alone are wanting to make this coun
terfeit battle the real one.
IL 10 indeed unique experience to LOOK
upon the scene of this momentous struggle
from the vantage ground of near a quarter
century and recall the sentiments with which
we OF the South watched that storm wave
rolling Northward, bearing on it's crest the
fate of the Confederacs.
We should have more cycloramas. Their
silent el0quence Is more potent to keep alive
the memory of brave deeds than the spiteful
rawlings of many orators.
1t Is we'll to look in retrospecton on these
battle-aelds after the mists of passion and
prejudice have lifted like the cannon's smoke
and left our vision clear. There is dignity
and grace pervading the whole exhibition of
the great painters work which renders the
afternoon spent there delightful and long to
be remembered.
There is nothing in it to pain even the most
devoted ex.rebel 1t is a picture essentially
Northern. of course, and the spectator is sup.
posed to be standing 10 the centre of the
Union lines, but there is evident intention to
render '.honor to whom nor is DUE" re-
gardless of sectional feeling. Particularly
was this noticeable in the lecture given on the
occasion by MIR. Chase, q veteran soldier from
Maine, who lost both an arm and an eye At
Gettysburg, and who has been chosen a. the
most competent exponent of the battle.
We were struck by the picturesque manner
of this gentleman, whose face kindled with
enthusiasm a. he pointed with the remaining
left arm to some places on the field where
uOt6UIe luCIueDt6 Vi Tue DhStlc OCCurIsU, Auu
yet who did not forget that there might be in
his audience some whose hearts and hopes
had gone with Pickett's Chivalry as it led the
forlorn hope in that i'll fated charge. Some
thing in Mr.. Chase's bearing and appearance
bespeaks the ideal soldier, one who has testi-
fed his devotion to principle and to country
in the most unmistakable way that = soldier
can.
There was nothing in his lecture which re-
lated to his own services on the 81 of July,
excepting a familiarity with the details of the
battlefield, which shows that he was there
and an active participant in the fight, and the
empty sleeve, which was more eloquent still.
Our interest, however, was enlisted, and we
found on investigation that we were not mis-
taken in our estimate of the man.
At the first cry of e North for defenders
he espoused her cause and entered the volun-
teer service at the age of seventeen. 1t was
not the "fanciful wreath" for which this
Young soldier brsved death, however, for he
refused the offers of promotion that followed
hts acts of daring and skill 10 all the bloody
battles of the Potomac. 1t was his choice
that his country should know him simply as
Cannonier No. of the Fifth Maine Battery.
But a man who gave his youth and his
strength to the service of his country durlns
three years OF DANGER anu udTus"iP, w oV Io"
crushed and senseless on the fed OF her
greatest victory, could not long escape the
lust measure of fame which now gilds his
name with light more enduring than the
tinsel Of office.
The s.roke which ended his heroic career
was the bursting of q shell within three feet
of where he stood loading his cannon short
time before the close of the battle depicted on
the canvas Of the cyclorama. he was dragged
TO the rear, lacerated with forty eight wounds
the greatest number ever survived by any
soldier of which history bears record-and
left for twenty four hours among the Dead
silent and deaf to the shouts Of his comrades,
which proclaimed the victory tor which ne
fought and suffered.
To miss seeing and hearing this SCARED
veteran Of Gettysburg is to miss one OF the
most interesting features of the exhibition.
II is pleasant to Southern man to meet
soldier above the narrow preJvdice wnicn
cannot see that to deny the courage Of Hector
il to rob Achilles of glory.
Captain Chase has q history which mus.
always elicit gratitude from his friends ana
honor from his enemies.
" An Elk CONFEDERATE.